Colombia will start exporting rice to the United States after continuous two years of negotiations. Primarily, four containers will be shipped. That is, around 100 tons that will be marketed by the company Thomas & Toledo LLC.
The agreement reached is the result of work between the National Federation of Rice Growers (Fedearroz) and the Association of Latin American Chambers of Commerce in the United States.
Rafael Hernández, manager of Fedearroz, within the framework of the Socialization of the Rice Export Plan to the United States, highlighted “Achieving this has been an effort. This is just the beginning. We have achieved a competitiveness that allows us to reach this type of market”.
“This year we can see with great satisfaction that from rural women we can have rice exports and Hernández also assured saying that the containers that will be sent were grown by women in Colombia. This is a small contingent, but surely this will continue to grow because Colombian rice is of quality. We can even work on the appellation of origin with examples such as Tolima,” said the minister of the agricultural portfolio, Rodolfo Zea Navarro, who argued that exports can also help regulate cereal prices in Colombia.
RICE IN CUBA.
The market has been expanding over the years. Today, almost all of the national rice production is destined for the domestic market. This has led to periods of oversupply and downward changes in paddy prices. What has negatively affected the farmer.
Between 2018 and 2019, different export pilots were carried out to countries such as Canada. Finally, last year 2021, Fedearroz made the first export of Colombian rice to Cuba, about 300 tons arrived in that country.
In order to improve the competitiveness and income of producers, Minister Zea pointed out that last year more than 60,000 million pesos were invested in support for the productive rice subsector.
In order for Colombia to further develop the export and exponentialization, not only of rice but of other crop products, through IRAIC AGRI, conservative market programs are developed that ensure the production, export and economic destinations that are generated, with the purpose of achieve a sustainable economic base and structure with global visibility.